Kind of a long article so I'll just post up a snippet of it. Interesting to see how other Steeler fans think of this standoff situation.

This standoff, for Steelers fans, feels scientifically unnatural, north pole opposite north pole, the region's beloved player opposite the region's beloved team. Wide receiver Hines Ward swears he won't play football this season until the Steelers offer him a suitable contract extension, and the Steelers swear they won't negotiate a suitable contract extension until Ward plays football.

The desires of both sides wrap a force field around everybody who cares to watch. Fans instinctively pick sides, because that's what fans do, and what's the point of even having a season if you can't debate every point along the way? But still, they are conflicted, arguing sides at dinner tables, breaking into hushed debate at business meetings, reading Internet message boards to learn where others mark the line between right and wrong.

Fans call Ward the heart of the team; they call the Steelers the heart of the city. When, suddenly, the player and the team can no longer coexist, harmony breaks apart. And Steelers fandom divides.

I don't think it was said any better than "Fans call Ward the heart of the team; they call the Steelers the heart of the city." and I am with the ending quote of the article. I just want Hines to come back!

Me too! At $6,000 a day, the fines for missing training camp amounts to chump change in light of a ten mill sign on bonus. He'd be a dang fool to stay out once he starts missing game checks @ $1,000,000 a game. My guess is he wants to make sure the front office knows he's serious. What scares me is that he comes back and then sits out an important game or two.

All of this sucks for both sides, meaning him and the team, but the thing that bums me out is that all of the rookies and guys that re new to our team are missing out on a large part of the chemistry that has made this team what it is. We all know how special individual players are, but taking him out of the equation is just.... I can't even think of a word or phrase good enough to describe the enormity of it. All of us who go to work everyday are used to working with a pretty much the same people and you build a relationship, chemistry, whatever you want to call it. These guys train and teach each other in a small amount of time, rookies relying on them to share their experiences and knowledge to prepare them, and one of the best players in this league is not there to share and build this team for the season. It's disheartening. But I can definitely understand where he is at also. I actually think he's worth more than the other receivers that are in front of him in relation to statistics. NONE of those other players bring what he has to a team. That's the thing that makes me feel confident that he'll be back this year, because I really don't think he'll let his team down. We all know how he feels about Jerome and you know he's a legit guy. It normally makes my stomach turn to hear about how an athlete has been quoted as saying he needs to feed his family. Not with Hines. Bottom line is that he never takes a play off and always puts his body on the line to move the ball. At any point (God Forbid) his career could be brought to a complete hault because of the intensity he plays with. He is truly trying to take care of his family and I respect him even more than I did before. I can't blame him for doing this a year befor his contract was up, any of us would have done the same. I wasn't old enough to know what Franco went through, but I read an interview with him today, and I realize that Hines is doing what he has to do. Now let's hope our beloved organization does what they SHOULD do!